Monday, December 2, 2013

Third in a series.After almost 20 years
in St. Paul – first on Jackson Street in Lowertown, then in the Hamm Building
near Rice Park – the esteemed and beloved Artists’ Quarter jazz club will close
January 1. As we near the end of a jazz era, we’re asking musicians (and a few
others) whose lives have been shaped by experiences at the AQ to share their three
favorite memories of the place, the people, and the music.

Brad Bellows, trombonist

Brad Bellows by John Whiting

My association with the Artists’ Quarter goes back to sitting
in as a young valve trombonist with the great Eddie Berger in the late 1970s,
when the club was at 26th & Nicollet. Eddie was my friend and mentor and
allowed me to play with him a lot when I would visit from my home in Boston. After
I moved here in 1981 and throughout the 1980s, I refused to play the Artists’
Quarter because the pay scale was too low and I was trying to only play gigs
that paid at least union scale, which was low to begin with. At the time, I was
frustrated that a club owned and run by musicians could not market itself well
enough to pay better.

Sometime in the middle 1990s, I got schooled by the great
musician Bobby Peterson.Bobby and his
wife Gail had been friends of mine since 1972, before I joined the “jazz life,”
and Bobby and I were playing in Paul Lagos’s band Children of the Night. Bobby
was playing a lot for little money at the AQ, and when I asked him why, he
explained that the joint was “our bar” where we could play anything we wanted without
management constraints. And as far as the economics were concerned, the
ownership wasn’t making any money either. I saw the light.

At that time, I had been playing that other “jazz” club and
various small gigs with my sextet (with Eddie and trumpeter Gene Adams) and
Paul’s band. After a brutal experience at that other “jazz” club, when we were
asked to add a female vocalist to the band – after the gig was booked without one, and did, to play the room – I
called [AQ owner] Kenny [Horst} and moved all of my jazz music endeavors to
what has proven to be the only true jazz club in our fair cities.

Subsequently, I have played all of my important gigs at the
Artists’ Quarter, from my sextet and quintet with Eddie and duo with Dean
Granros to my trombone-centric bands Locally Damaging Winds and Valves Meet
Slide. I continue to support my friends and their bands at the “Q” and I hope
the club can somehow continue into the future with the same commitment to local
and international jazz musicians that has made it a performance space and jazz
hangout equal to any other jazz club in the world.

The Artists’ Quarter reopened(1) when Beverly and I were
first dating. It soon became “our place” and we went there frequently. At Fifth
and Jackson, most of the tables were in front of the stage, but there was also
a small seating area to the left, and we favored the first table there. It
provided a great view of the keys, and I always prefer watching horn players in
profile. We would ask for it specifically when making reservations and even the
staff started referring to it as “the Berryman table.” One night we were
looking forward to hearing Dave Frishberg and had made our reservation early.
We called back on that day to mention that we might be a little late and were
told, “We must have lost your reservation.” I said, “If we can’t get our regular
table, just put us anywhere.” Byron [Nelson, the bartender] said, “You don’t
understand, there isn’t a seat in the house.” Then he added, “Don’t worry, come
on down and we’ll fit you in somehow.” When we showed up expecting to be in a
corner in the back, we were shown to table in front of our usual table - a
round tabletop which had been placed on a serving tray stand. We were indeed
pleased and flipped.

Some of my favorite musical memories were listening to the
late Bobby Peterson, who played the AQ frequently with Billy Peterson and Kenny
Horst. On one particular Thursday night, I was struck with the intricate beauty
of his playing, how each phrase led to the next, and following choruses built
upon that foundation to construct an elegant aural structure. Listening was
like examining fractal geometry sets where the closer you look, the more
complexity and beauty is revealed. That night, I realized that I had only been
listening on the surface (which was still very cool) and this music is much
deeper than it often appears. It changed the way I have listened to music ever
since. I talked to Bobby at the break and told him how I loved what he was playing,
He humbly thanked me and said he’d been working on things. The truth is, my
ears had finally caught up to what he had been doing all along.

Another night we went to the AQ to see a particular artist
and Kenny told us that they had canceled. I was disappointed and asked who was
playing instead. Kenny said, “Dave Hagedorn, artist in residence at St. Olaf
[college in Northfield]. Don’t worry, you’ll dig him.” We sat at our table and
were a little dubious when he came to the stage. I turned to Beverly and said, “That’s
about the palest-looking guy I’ve ever seen.” But when he started on the vibes,
all apprehension was dispelled as I went into a trance listening. Hagedorn is a
monster player. Almost a decade later, after the AQ moved to the Hamm Building,
the great Eric Kamau Grávátt was leading his band Source Code one night in 2005
when Hagedorn brought in a chart for Eric Dolphy’s “Hat and Beard” from the
seminal album “Out to Lunch.” They read it on the spot and it sounded amazing.
I was delighted to hear someone revive this unjustly neglected body of work.
Dave went on to form the Out to Lunch Quintet, which performed more music of
Eric Dolphy.(2) Hagedorn is also part of the renowned Phil Hey Quartet, which,
like Source Code, almost exclusively played the AQ.

Dave King, drummer

Dave King by John Whiting

So many memories of playing the artists’ quarter but also
being in the audience.

1995 when i first moved back to the twin cities from los
angeles i went to the artists’ quarter on new year’s eve and by accident saw
anthony cox playing bass who i didn’t even know lived in the twin cities! that
led to an 18-year playing and recording relationship with him and having many
laughs and bands over the years.

1996 when kenny horst took a chance on some young attitude-laden
doofs named happy apple and gave us the holy grail at the time – a wednesday
night at the a.q.!!! we built a real following of beautiful creative music
supporters in that room over the years and it helped us become a recognized
jazz group on the international stage. incredible that it started from a
feeling of being included in a scene on a lonely wednesday night in lowertown
st. paul.

1996 i saw jt bates and the rest of the motion poets play
some great music and that birthed a bond over trying to get some f****** respect
from the older cats! much like i’m sure some young cats are gonna have to try
in some other way with out the a.q.!!!! that sucks!!!!!

played so many great shows with dean granros (my childhood
idol) and scott fultz in the band f.k.g. when barely anyone was there. it didn’t
matter. kenny brought us back whenever we wanted. so f****** cool with no
financial rationale. it’s just all about the music and being able to develop
somewhere and having people get it and VALIDATE IT!

played many nights with bill carrothers and argued over his
fashion choices as well :-)

thanks artists’ quarter!!!!

btw first ever bad plus gigs EVER!! Artists’ quarter may
2000!!! I am so grateful for that stage!!

dave king

***

Notes: (1) The
Artists’ Quarter first opened in Minneapolis in the late 1970s, at 26th and
Nicollet in Minneapolis. It closed in 1990. In 1995, Kenny Horst (who had
worked at but not owned the original) moved the club to the corner of Fifth and
Jackson in St. Paul. That’s what Don means by “reopened.” In 2001, the AQ moved
from Jackson St. to the basement of the Hamm Bldg. at 408 St. Peter Street. (2) Don modestly neglects to mention
that he produced a CD of the Out to Lunch Quintet playing Dolphy’s music,
recorded live at the Artists’ Quarter in 2006. You can buy it at cdbaby.com. It’s one of several recordings
made in the club over the years.